Rob Shaker & Hau Pocketful EP Interview
You’re both well-established members of the Australian hip hop scene, how did this collaboration EP come about?
Hau: I’ve known Rob for many years and working as the presenter on the triple j Hip Hop Show, I’d obviously play song he was involved in. So that respect was always there. One day, Rob hit me up about whether I’d be interested in working on a song for an album he was putting together. Of course I said “yes”.
Rob then sent me a file of beats. I liked, I think, five of them. I did a demo to those five beats, sent it to him and said, “pick one”. Haha. The beats were so dope and I just love writing, so it was no thing to do that. Rob liked all the demos and suggest we do an EP. I was like, “why the hell not?!”
Rob: I think what instantly struck me about the five demo tracks was that one was clearly the choice for my album due to it’s subject matter and style of the beat, and the other 4 had a very similar feel to them. Playing through them in a row seemed like I was listening to a project so I suggested it and I’m very thankful that Hau was keen too! He’s a king of our scene and someone I’ve respected for many years not just as a musician and his eloquence lyrically and vocally definitely took the ideas to a great place.
What was the process of making the EP considering you’re both based in different states?
Hau: Well, I was fortunate enough to have been on tour then and had a few shows in WA. It was perfect timing. I had already done the demos a few weeks prior, so when I saw that I’d be in transit for, I think, 7 hours, I knew that would be a great opportunity to knock them all out.
Rob: I think we nutted out 90% of them in that 7 hour transit and had one more couple hour session when he was on the way back through and that was all that was needed. It was a very natural process to record, and I worked on the mixes over the next few months and arranged for Nat Mae, Brendan [Scott Grey] and Matt [Smith] to add their parts before I sent them off to Hau.
Of the 4 tracks on the EP, the themes were around relationships and loved ones, what inspired your rhymes Hau?
Hau: A lot of it is inspired by love. Like you mentioned, the love in relationships – both being in one and falling out of one – the love of family, even the love of just rhyming. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a household and environment where there was a lot of love and showing love didn’t make you ‘soft’. If anything, it made you stronger because you had the confidence to express it.
What else have you both got in the works, be it together or separately?
Hau: For me, I’m always working on something music-related. Whether it’s creating it for myself, writing for other people, mentoring the young talent that is coming up and right now I’m in the midst of something really exciting. Something I’ve dreamed about doing for a while now and with great timing and experience, will be happening. More details soon!
Rob: It’s a very busy year for me with the label and studio, but next of my own releases will be mine and Bitter Belief’s album Beastmode which will be available with a month or 2. We will hopefully get an SBX album cracking too! I’m also working hard on the album still and am looking at early next year to put that out. I’d definitely work on something with Hau again, but we haven’t discussed anything. I guess we’ll see what happens!
Thanks for your time!
You can get the Pocketful EP on vinyl or as a digital download here.
Follow Rob Shaker & Hau on Facebook to stay up to date!
Hau: I’ve known Rob for many years and working as the presenter on the triple j Hip Hop Show, I’d obviously play song he was involved in. So that respect was always there. One day, Rob hit me up about whether I’d be interested in working on a song for an album he was putting together. Of course I said “yes”.
Rob then sent me a file of beats. I liked, I think, five of them. I did a demo to those five beats, sent it to him and said, “pick one”. Haha. The beats were so dope and I just love writing, so it was no thing to do that. Rob liked all the demos and suggest we do an EP. I was like, “why the hell not?!”
Rob: I think what instantly struck me about the five demo tracks was that one was clearly the choice for my album due to it’s subject matter and style of the beat, and the other 4 had a very similar feel to them. Playing through them in a row seemed like I was listening to a project so I suggested it and I’m very thankful that Hau was keen too! He’s a king of our scene and someone I’ve respected for many years not just as a musician and his eloquence lyrically and vocally definitely took the ideas to a great place.
What was the process of making the EP considering you’re both based in different states?
Hau: Well, I was fortunate enough to have been on tour then and had a few shows in WA. It was perfect timing. I had already done the demos a few weeks prior, so when I saw that I’d be in transit for, I think, 7 hours, I knew that would be a great opportunity to knock them all out.
Rob: I think we nutted out 90% of them in that 7 hour transit and had one more couple hour session when he was on the way back through and that was all that was needed. It was a very natural process to record, and I worked on the mixes over the next few months and arranged for Nat Mae, Brendan [Scott Grey] and Matt [Smith] to add their parts before I sent them off to Hau.
Of the 4 tracks on the EP, the themes were around relationships and loved ones, what inspired your rhymes Hau?
Hau: A lot of it is inspired by love. Like you mentioned, the love in relationships – both being in one and falling out of one – the love of family, even the love of just rhyming. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a household and environment where there was a lot of love and showing love didn’t make you ‘soft’. If anything, it made you stronger because you had the confidence to express it.
What else have you both got in the works, be it together or separately?
Hau: For me, I’m always working on something music-related. Whether it’s creating it for myself, writing for other people, mentoring the young talent that is coming up and right now I’m in the midst of something really exciting. Something I’ve dreamed about doing for a while now and with great timing and experience, will be happening. More details soon!
Rob: It’s a very busy year for me with the label and studio, but next of my own releases will be mine and Bitter Belief’s album Beastmode which will be available with a month or 2. We will hopefully get an SBX album cracking too! I’m also working hard on the album still and am looking at early next year to put that out. I’d definitely work on something with Hau again, but we haven’t discussed anything. I guess we’ll see what happens!
Thanks for your time!
You can get the Pocketful EP on vinyl or as a digital download here.
Follow Rob Shaker & Hau on Facebook to stay up to date!